Werewolf

Deeply flawed, but fundamentally decent, I approach life with an irreverent attitude toward certain modern social conventions, while harboring a profound nostalgia for bygone traditions of honor and decency. We each have our own code, and I succeed and fail by mine.

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Sunday, February 21, 2010

Zimbabwe: False optimism, abused paitence, and a bleak future.

Christine Nikol over at The Daily Caller, wrote an interesting article on select attitudes of Zimbabweans toward their current blighted circumstances. It is a thoughtful and well written article, complete with locations familiar to the werewolf. However, the article strikes the werewolf as being incredibly naive at points. The problems facing Zimbabwe mostly stem from the abusive nature of Robert Mugabe's regime and how bad governance has frayed any semblance of a civil society .

There seems to be misbegotten faith put in patience and timing as the eternal cure all. The werewolf's inner economist agrees that we are all dead in the long run, so in essence, patience can be seen as a cure all of sorts. Plus, life is full of transition points where a healthy dose of patience and optimism in a better tomorrow are essential. Yes, when Mugabe and his dastardly ruling party formally crumble, a true road to recovery can begin for Zimbabwe. However, Mugabe's legacy includes years of a disciplined deconstruction of law and order, ethnic cleansing, economic mayhem, the standardization of torture, and institutionalization of fear. Patience, optimism, and wishful thinking aren't going to fix that mess.